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The Return of Piranacon
City of New York New York always has, and always will be one of the busiest cities in the world. The Big Apple, the city that never sleeps . . . Now it is nearly the state that never sleeps. New York is following in the Tokyo tradition of spreading its tentacles into everything within reach, growing and expanding. The level of technology here is rivaled only in Tokyo, the original sprawl. But here there is something different, perhaps it's the attitude. Contents: *Astrotrain *James Bailey *Grimlock *Patchwork *Sit-Com *Skalor *Snaptrap *Tentakil "Eh look!, alligators really do live in thuh sewers!" exclaims one local as he points. The man in the business suit ignored him, and took a bite of his hot dog, "Vinnie, you don't really expect me to fall for that one, do you?" But when he hears others, and a woman scream, he turns to see the Seacon Snaptrap emerge from a hole in the ground, he came up through the sewer, and took quite a bit of pavement along with it. He's still in turtle mode, but transforms into his robot mode shortly thereafter, and waves the rest of his team up out of the sewer. "There it is," he intones stoically, "The Federal Reserve Bank of New York." Seriously, they're here to a rob a bank? That can't be, can it? Sit-Com is strolling down the streets of New York when he sees Snaptrap pop out of the sewer. "Wait, you're not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!" Armored Locomotive is totally undercover in New York City. As a -train-. Sometime last night he subtly lumbered in along the old railway lines, hauling a bunch of cargo with him to add to his cover. The cargo was care packages for needy children. Who's going to stop -that- kind of a shipment? It made Astrotrain feel all gross and tingly inside, but what's a Decepticon to do? He was supposed to come here, 'observe' and see what happens. "Razzin frazzin...why'd the Boss have to give me this job anyway?" And then he recalls not so long ago he accidentally scratched Galvatron's paintjob. He was lucky to just get away with being hurled into orbit... "...on second though, this job ain't so bad!" Tentakil wobbles up from the sewers a shakey ascent at best though there is a big smile on his face as he takes in the sights, "Oh look so many new friends." Apparently toppling over Tentakil falls over as he transforms to his more land worthy mode. "Bank? Oh yeah the bank, we're here for it all right?" Sit-Com ducks behind a parked car as more Seacons emerge. "Shredder must have hid the ooze down there," he remarks, to nobody in particular. James Bailey sits in the cargo bay of a special NEST shuttle high overhead as it rumbles by and drops out of supersonic flight. Ever since the famed 'Olymics Truce' ended, this shuttle has been fueled and waiting somewhere in the region of San Fransisco. Ready to ferry both Autobot and EDC forces around the globe as sort of a fast reaction force when needed. Reports of Seacons in the Big Apple qualify. Jayson Redfield is pretty ticked about the Seacons showing up in his hometown. And the moment his exo is standing near the Hermes, while Jayson himself is seething, arms folded and at the moment off the controls. "Damned bastards," he grumbles. "Why'd they have to come to MY city?" And it does transport both human and Autobot this time. Standing just behind Jayson, Patchwork's hands are clasped at her back, and she eyes the human in his suite. "They go to all cities. THey really aren't picky...if they were, we could fortify those cities. It's annoying, really...' "Remember, Tentakil, we have work to do. This exercise is not about you and your need to make friends." Snaptrap makes his way across the street, but it seems traffic doesn't even stop for a Cybertronian. A yellow cab smashes into him, flipping over. He catches it in mid air, and sets it down on the other side of him. Horns blaze as in an instant, he's managed to turn this busy road into gridlock. Hearing Italian, Czech, Russian, Hindu, Snaptrap asks, "What language are they speaking? I thought humans spoke English on this part of the planet." Armored Locomotive hears horns blaring, along with metal crunching not far off only a few mere blocks away. Is that what he was here to keep an eye on? Or is it something else? "Hmph, well it beats sittin around here looking useless..." At that point, two of the railway tenders were looking over the odd purple locomotive, and checking their records, puzzled that it wasn't showing up on the manifests. In short order, they're soon running away for their lives as the train pulls away from the station on its own, and starts to lumber along one of the passenger rails that leads to that particular part of downtown. Convenient! Tentakil reaches towards a rapidly fleeing human and then stops short, "Doesn't mean we can't make friends while we work. Hmm lots of different ones, funny really, so many languages and yet when you hug them tight they all make the same sound. But I'm sure that no matter what happens you'll be able to succeed after all it's not like you're known to fail, not like some other commanders." *SCREEEEEEECH* *WHAM BAM CRUNCH* Horns blow as cars slam on the brakes and add to the traffic jam as Skalor is... somewhere here. You see that multiple car pileup a few blocks away? Because a couple of drivers spun out on the trail of sludge left in his wake, and it's quickly turning into a classic example of New Yorker roadrage as a couple of drivers and a cabby storm out of their vehicles and get into a fist fight about who's fault it was. Up until they run away screaming when the robotic fish mutant latchs onto one of the cars with his mouth and starts sucking the gas out of it, ignorant and indifferent of the chaos his everpresent grease drippings are causing. Sit-Com ewws as the Seacons literally ooze all over New York. "Hey, you walking embodiment of Japanese Hentai. Keep your tentacles off that human!" he says to Tentakil. James Bailey waits as the Shuttle's cargo ramp is lowered. Inside, James opens an allied comm frequency and gives a few last comments before piloting his mecha out of the transport. It drops like a rock at first, before sprouting parachutes at the shoulders and firing off tiny detachable thrusters set on it's legs and waist. Finally it touches down on top of a large parking garage up the street from the amphibious invasion force. Jayson Redfield grunts in annoyance. "I get ticked when they hit *any* city, really, but this is just kinda personal, y'know?" He pilots the Pegasus over to the ramp, and, like James, exits the transport, but unlike the Hermes, this exo can fly, so it descends toward the ground at a speed that won't kill Jayson. Patchwork nods knowingly, even though having a city to call 'hers' is a bit beyond the femme's understanding. She follows after the two humans, landing more heavily than they do. Straightening, she brushes her hands together and turns her head to peer towards the disturbance. "We should hurry!" Tentakil stands up and looks to Snaptrap as a shot flies past him barely missing, "Oh goody looks like we've got some braver friends lurking around." He looks around for his attacker, "Aaaautobots... Aaautobots, come out and plaaayay! Oooh it's a Junkion, hey Skalor, i think i've found a match for you, but i saw him first!" Tentakil smiles warmly as he pulls his blaster and attempts to hose down his attacker. Armored Locomotive continues to rumble along the rails, passing between several office buildings as he takes a path that -usually- just sees smaller passenger trains go through. As a result, his large, heavy bulk snaps off a few light posts here and there, and actually pushes aside several vehicles that were caught at the railway crossing, their owners running for their lives in short order. It's only when he finally emerges into view on another street further down from where the Seacons are, that he catches sight of the activity. "What in the..." He starts, then grunts and rises up as he transforms, dropping any pretense of subtlty by this point. "Oh great, what the frag are this bunch up to?" He casually steps on an empty taxi as he moves closer, crushing the car into little more than tinfoil in the process. Skalor spits out the car once he's done, and indifferent as usual about the trouble his lack of hygiene has caused waddles in the direction of the other Seacons. Snaptrap probably has a reason as to why he led them here, not that her cares one way or the other, he's just here because the group leader wanted to go here. Snaptrap turns, and is again struck by a car, although the car took more damage by the look of it than the Field Commander did. "Astrotrain, just the Decepticon I wanted to see," actually, he's about the last Decepticon he'd want, but he can make use of the triple changer. "See if you can get that Autobot and Junkion off our backs while we cause a little senseless destruction?" From halfway across the four lanes of traffic, he fires at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, sending dozens of bricks down as he smashes windows and begins making the start of a nice, Piranacon-sized hole. This may take a while. "Ew, I've been SLIMED!" the Junkion moans, as he's coated with sticky, corrosive goop. "SLIMER! BAD GHOST!" He pulls out something that looks like a mock-up of a proton pack. He aims it at Tentakil. The theme to the Real Ghostbusters plays on his wrist-TV all the while. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!" James Bailey finds a nice perch at the edge of the top level of the parking garage. It trains its sensors on Snaptrap and then begins beaming targetting data to the other Exo-Suit in the area. Inside, James peers at a tiny display showing a picture of Jayson in his Exo's cockpit. "That's the Seacon Leader, kid. I've never tangled with them before, but any combiner team is bad news. See what you can do to slow him down, and watch out for the others!" Jayson Redfield hovers near the Hermes as Jayson peers toward the little group of Seacons. "This is be an interesting experience," he muses aloud. "Okay, here goes nothin'!" A blade extends from the wrist of the Pegasus and then it goes speeding toward Snaptrap. "Heeeeey, Decepticreep!" Jayson taunts as he attempts to plunge the blade into the Seacon's neck. Yeah, he's that pissed. "If they're combiners," Patchwork pipes up as she comes to the edge of the parking garage and peeks over the Hermes' shoulder. "Best thing to do is keep them from combining!" Advice cheerfully given, the teal femme makes her way down with a quick jump, careful not to land on anyone or anything, before she starts towards Snaptrap, hand lifting in what appears to be a happy greeting. "Hi! You should really stop what you're doing, you know. I don't want to have to stop you, but i will!" .. Oh look, targets! ... though they don't seem to be doing much, and Snaptrap's yelling at the triplechanger to deal with them instead. Whatever. Skalor shrugs what little shoulders he has in this mode, and turns his attention back towards the building Snaptrap fired on. "Bah, that's going to take too long boss. Here, let me." And the mutant fish transforms... into a large double-barreled gun? What sort of odd transformation is that?! More important is what it does though, as Skalor starts shooting large globs of acidic slime at the side of the bank to eat through the walls, weaken the foundation and all in all make it that much more easy to make a hole. Snaptrap is glad that at least somebody is doing what they're told, for once. And it's Skalor of all Decepticons. Hmm, stranger things have happened. And he'd like to do it too, but right now, there's a couple of humans sporting Cybertronian technology on his aft. Grabbing a hold of the slimy, disgusting, gun that Skalor has transformed into, he pulls it away from the building long enough to douse the Exo-Suit that struck him with that blade attack, "This city will fall." Tentakil grins at Sit-Com as he slimes, then gets distracted as Snaptrap tells Astrotrain to deal with his friend and is shot in the back, "Hmm what? Oh yeah the mission got to keep focused. Still it's fun to break stuff as well as people." That said he charges straight at the bank and starts punching out the walls doing a slightly more efficient job at hole making thanks to his skills in demolition. James Bailey Tank falls along with the rest of the wall, tumbling and getting pelted by bits of rock and scraped by rebar on the way down. It's momentarily obscured by a cloud of dust, pulverized concrete and falling masonry that quickly forms on the street neat Astrotrain. But from inside this cloud comes the sound of metallic parts clanking and whirring, ducted fans whining to life and thick armor plating settling and sealing into place. As the dust settles, the blocky form of a modified Warthog Exo-Tank is revealed, guns already tracking to point at Astrotrain. The external emitters crackle to life, and James' voice grates out. "You see THIS?" Jayson Redfield gracefully sidesteps the slime that fires at it. Jayson snarls. "You've got a lot of nerve wreaking havoc on MY town." The exo ascends slightly into the air, then comes down hard at Snaptrap. So tall dark and tentacley was ignoring him now, was he? Sit-Com frowns and gets out his sonic blaster. He loads it up with an MP3 file and aims it at the general area the Seacons are in. "Now here's number one on the bottom 40 Television Themes!" Hertz, donut? Oh, this isn't good...why is it no one ever listens to her? Patchwork frowns as she watches the slime fly towards Jayson, but decides he's got Snaptrap in hand, and turns instead to move for Tentakil, pulling her pistol out as she goes. "Leave that building alone!" she challenges, firint a quick shot towards him. Tentakil continues in his wanton destruction as a full side finally gives up as its supports are destroyed. Then grabs at his head as Sit-Com's terrible taste in theme tunes hits his senses and then another person fires at him, eventualy he shakes off the assault, "Hmm you call that a gun? That's not a gun..." He transforms into his weapon mode, "This is a gun!" Astrotrain peers towards the pile of rubble that's resulting, sneering as he lifts his rifle up at the ready. Though a moment later, the human machine comes bursting out and opening fire on him! The triplechanger reacts more by built-in-programming than conscious planning, jerking backa nd using his rifle to absorb the shot instead. His weapon does indeed take the impact, and survive, but it goes spinning out of his hands a short distance, landing end-down on the other side of the street and imbedding in place like an Arthurian sword waiting to be retrieved. "Why you little...if you scratched that gun I'm gonna make you put it back together...without any arms!" He's about to go after his weapon when...lo and behold, one of the Seacons nearby transforms! "Oh -REALLY-, he exclaims, reaching out without hesitation to scoop up Tentakil's menacing twin-barreled design in his hands. He holds it like a human would hold a minigun or other heavy assault weapon, bracing the Seacon's weight on his forearm, the other firmly gripping the trigger and handguard. "Bwahaha, lookit this! You guys got some uses afterall!" And with that, those two barrels are pointed STRAIGHT at Jaimes Bailey's mecha, lightning starting to arc between the two tips before a brilliant jolt of electrical power lances out! Almost literally slipping from Snaptrap's grasp, Skalor transforms back into robot mode once he's free and drawing both of his guns. "Alright you little pest, lets see you dodge this!" Aiming both guns at Jayson's mech, he opens fire with a combination of sticky slime and metallic shards that mix into it, resulting in the two hardening into a toughened shell on anything they hit. Skalor fires!... and some of the slime sprays back in his face as the poor maintenance of his systems causing a bit of backfire! "MRRGLRLGLGL!" sputters the Seacon. But at least the shot still fired first. Snaptrap will never, ever, get used to Skalor. He shakes his hands, open palmed, sending bits of slime spinning out. He reaches over, for some of the debris from the building, picking up a few bricks and using the dust to try and clean his hands, but it only has the effect of making the dust and brick stick to him. At least he's not slimey anymore, and theoretically could make use of his hands, but still, this is disgusting. "Skalor, first thing tomorrow, I want you to see Engineering, and get them to concoct some kind of dissolvent for you!" Reaching behind him, he grabs his rifle, although the dust is making it look dirty. Still, it could be covered in the slime. With one hand he holds it parallel to the floor, "I saw this in a movie" and he fires, but the recoil makes it pound against his chest, slamming hard, "That didn't happen in the movie." "They turn into big honking guns. Huh." Sit-Com gets out his ball and chain, twirling it to build up momentum. And to try to knock the slimy gun out of Astrotrain's hands. "You're so slimy, you probably jam yourself," the Junkion says. ames Bailey is struck dead-on by the massive bolt of lightning. The two lift fans on one side cut out, causing that edge of the tank to dip and drag against the ground as the still-functional ones push it suddenly to the side. Finally one of the malfunctioning drive units kicks back into life, bringing the tank into a wobbling hover once more. But almost simultaneously, the protective covers on the rocket pods flip open to reveal four gleaming missiles. There's a rapid fire WHOOSH-OOSH-OOSH-OOOOOOSH sound as coke-bottle shaped missiles spew out, twisting and tumbling far more then they probably have to as they home in on each Decepticon in the area (but leaving much more pretty smoke trails this way). The shot hits the Pegasus in the shoulder, and Jayson grimaces as the slime hardens. "Gross. That's really gross." He blinks as Skalor is attacked by his own weapon. "Huh. That's new." And then Snaptrap shoots him. The exo goes flying backward and lands on the ground hard, small shards of armor coming off it. Jayson is going to have a lot of bruises after this. As he gets the exo back on its feet, Jayson taps his earpiece at a broadband order from James. "Teamwork, huh..." The Pegasus takes to the air again, and just in time to avoid the missiles that hit Skalor. He opens fire on Snaptrap afterward. "You want to see teamwork, eh?" Snaptrap glances at the relative positions of his Seacons, "We've got all the teamwork you can handle, and more." He chuckles a bit, it's an ominous, unnerving laugh. He's struck as he's chuckling, and it singes his shoulder, but he doesn't seem to preoccupied, "Trust me, you're going to love this . . . Seacons! Merge and form Piranacon!" Skalor hisses and snarls, though fortunately he only got hit with the slime part of his weapon. It's plastered in his face though, and it takes a moment for him to stow his weapon and wipe it off. Just in time to see a missile as it hurtles towards him. The resulting explosion knocks Skalor on his aft, leaving the Seacon a bit scorched and some of his slimy ooze burning, but for the most part his thick armor took it. As a benefit, he lands right at Snaptrap's feet, so he's in perfect place for the merge command to be give. Twin Lightning Rifles chuckles giddily as Astrotrain caresses his trigger causing him to release his stored load at the pesky human, the discharge corruscating all over the chassis of the exo suit, "For a big mech you've got a very gentle touch ther... owww!" It takes two attemps but eventually the supposed good guys manages to knock Tentakil from Astrotrain's grasp or is that Astrotrain from Tentakil's grasp? As he spins through the air he transforms and heads towards Snaptrap, his transformation seeming to continue far longer than necessary as he goes straight into the merger process. Astrotrain leaps to one side as the Junkion's ball and chain swoops in at his arms, trying to knock the Seacon-turned-gun out of his hands. Well the triplechanger is going to have absolutely none of that, especially after his regular gun was disarmed earlier! "Hah! Nice try Junkbot! I can see why that Sharkticon didn't wanna eat ya! Probably woulda got sick if..." And then the world explodes. Or that's how it seems anyway, everything turning into brilliant explosions and soaring missiles, and more explosions, and more missiles. How he stays on his feet throughout it all is a bit of a mystery, but when it clears, he's down on one knee, coughing a bit as he struggles to clear his air intakes. And then Tentakil's form goes leaping out of his hands as Snaptrap makes THE BIG CALL. "Whu....awww, wait I wasn't done!" Though right now it looks like things are about to get a whooole lot crazier in an instant. He finally gets up and goes diving for his rifle nearby, coming up in a blackened heap on one knee as he coughs out another thick cloud of smoke. "Fraggin missiles up the wazoo..." he mutters, then suddenly leaps high into the air, anti-gravs kicking on as he rises up to nearby the forming gestalt's shoulder. Oh yeah, he's not about to steal the merger's thunder here. Snaptrap leaps up into the air, staying for the most part in robot form. His stance widens, forming the thighs of the great beast that is Piranacon. Skalor transforms into a Coelacanth-like right foot. Tentakil forms an Octopus-like left foot, and both slot into Snaptrap's waiting feet. Seawing, who had been terrorising the skies of New York, remains in his mantra ray form, but now becomes the left hand. Nautilator, unfortunately, becomes a lobster right hand, and Overbite becomes the Shark-like Corrosive Jawbreaker Cannon! Where once six able bodied Decepticon amphibious warriors had stood, now a towering, terrifying, creature from beneath the depths stands.In fact, it weighs so much that part of the subway has caved in and it's actually standing in a ditch. "Hn. Great. Puny humans try fight, n' then big guy show up!" That'd be Grimlock arriving on the scene- and perhaps too late! He grunts, and comes to a landing by Jayson and James' exo suits. "You guys still live?" he asks, not taking his optics off of the giant gestalt. "Cuz me Grimlock say there still am fightings to do!" And with that, Grimlock transforms to his dinosaur mode, roaring out a challenge to the towering sea-warrior! A challenge- and then a stream of flame, directed right at Pirhanacon's face! Jayson Redfield can only stare as Piranacon forms, subconsciously backing up his exo a step. "Shit!" This is not good. Oh, there's Grimlock. "Of course we're still alive!" he replies indignantly. "Just help us take this guy down!" The wrist blade extends again, and the Pegasus lunges forward in an attempt to slice into the gestalt's leg. "Oy, vey," Sit-Com says, "Martha, look. We got a big one here." He transforms to Junkcycle mode and attempts to throw a net over the gestalt. "Time to go FISHING!" James Bailey lifts fully into the air, then begins to coast backwards as James tries to restart critical systems. The sudden appearance of the giant Decepticons super-warrior probably has something to do with it as well. James runs scanners quickly over the giant robot's form. "This day just keeps getting better," he groans, though of course no one can hear him from inside the pilot's compartment of his tank. Until he sends out another tightbeam transmission to his allies. The hulking mass of hydraulics may seem bizarre and incomprehensible, but he is actually incredibly well designed, with component units that compliment each other. A mighty mantra ray hand ploughs into the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, leaving a mighty slash as it cleaves the building in two, although for the moment it still stands, it just looks like a piece of real life jenga. "Prepare for termination!" It bellows, even as Grimlock washes its right leg in flame. "Thank you for burning the excess slime," it intones. The two Exo-Suits seem to keep themselves busy, striking the behemoth as it stands there, but they seem to have inflicted no discernable damage. Its right hand holds the Jawbreaker Cannon, and for a moment, its optics seem to focus on Grimlock. Uh oh, that doesn't look good. There's a bright light coming out of the end of its cannon. Do DInobots wear clean underwear? Astrotrain continues to float in place, casually checking his rifle for a moment, before putting it away. "Yeah!" He calls out then, as bits of destructive aftereffects go spraying in all directions after the gestalt smashes into the building with one hand. "That's what I'm talkin about. Completely senseless destruction and I don't even gotta life a finger!" With that, he proceeds to drop down, and actually -lands- on Piranacon's shoulder, the one that hopefully keeps him away from any wierd or smelly pieces from it's more disgusting members of the team. He looks like Piranacon's conscience, sitting there on his shoulder like that. But which is he? The good or the bad one? Yeah right, as if it's in any question. Jayson Redfield retracts the arm blade and backs off momentarily. Armed with a monocular HMD, which is "linked" to his cybernetic left eye, he analyzes the combiner's joints, eventually settling on the right knee. He activates his weapons systems again, and takes careful aim... Grimlock is bathed in acid! It shimmers and sizzles over his frame- he soon shakes himself like a dog to get rid of the unpleasant sensation- and then transforms to his robot mode, to boot! "Grr. Stupid big guy. Me Grimlock hate fightings these things!" he snarls- and then thunders forwards towards the titan! He keeps himself guarded, warily circling around the pillarlike legs- until he brings up his energo sword and *STABS* it right at the back of one of Piranacon's knees! James Bailey is finally moving at close to full speed again. It coasts forward less than a meter above the street, hugging the ground so tightly that the occasional spot of rubble or crushed-like-a-tin-can car (thanks Astrotrain) makes it bob up as the Exo-Tank glides over. Even as Grimlock stabs at one of the mighty gestalt's knees, James is lining up his main cannon with the ankle joint of the other leg. If they can limit it's mobility...well, they're still screwed. But maybe they'll buy time for this region of New York can be evacuated. Whatever Piranacon was about to do is now irrelevant as suddenly he pauses and falls into his componant parts, perhaps Snaptrap set the timer a little too short for this smash and smash and smash. Tentakil shakes his head, "What the?!? Well no worries i'm sure we can still trash this place up a lot more especially you Skalor, why don't you spray a little of that ooze around? You know how much they love playing around in that stuff." Astrotrain had JUST settled onto Piranacon's shoulder. Was JUST getting comfortable to watch the show from the best seat in the house. Then the gestalt de-merged, and the triplechanger tumbles like a toy soldier amongst the Seacons, crashing down onto the street a moment later. "WAAAAAAAAUGH! OOF!" Skalor is fortunately a leg, so he doesn't have very far to fall as he tumbles back to the ground. ".... Done already? Slaggit, that was just starting to get fun!"... Grrrrr. For as much indifference as Skalor puts up in attitude, he really doesn't like his fun being stopped like that. "Ignorant pests! You can't stop the best hunters so easi--Huh?" He stops, blinking at Tentakill being all smoozy. "... Oh, right! EAT IT SUCKERS!" He transforms, and in prehaps one of the grossest attacks ever, just starts spewing globs of toxic, highly obnoxiously smelly slime and grease ALL OVER. Snaptrap wanted to ensure that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was destroyed, and Piranacon has seen to it. Thus, he only set a short timer on the time to be merged. Without it, who knows where they might end up. He seems to be the only one who's content, knowing just what's going on, and why. When he comes out of it, he has an incendiary sword in hand, and comes crashing down towards Grimlock, "Hyah!" "Grooooooss!" Jayson exclaims as the exo accelerates into the air to avoid the slime. "That really is disgusting! Stop messing up my town, you bastard!" And then he opens fire on Skalor. "Ha!" Grimlock snarls, sinking his blade into Piranacon...only to have the gestalt tumble to bits all around him? "...me Grimlock must be strongerer than me thought." he muses aloud- at which point he suddenly finds himself surrounded by sullied seacons! Snaptrap's blade is met with Grimlock's own, as he brings the weapon up to *CLANG!* a parry! "Hnn. You guys WEAK." he declares- only to get hit by Skalor's grossness. "...weak and GROSS." he adds. This done, Grimlock pushes Snaptrap's sword to the side, and swings a massive fist right at the seacon commander's face! At this rate, it may be a pretty familliar sight to Snaptrap. "I'm with him," the Junkcycle says, "Get out of here, you marshmallow-covered wrecks. Before we put you in the containment unit." He aims his plasma blasters at one of the Seacons. "KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!" James Bailey tilts over - by design this time rather than due to battle damage - and strafes to the side when Skalor's slime starts flying. The sheer volume of gunk being flung about normally wouldn't allow for a ground-bound target to dodge...except that the tank ends up taking shelter behind Grimlock's much larger form. Once the immediate danger is past, it shifts slightly to remain sheltred behind the makeshift pillbox as Grimlock mixes it up with Snaptrap. And then James zeroes in on Astrotrain. Maybe now's his chance to make the elusive triplechanger pay with more then just a rough landing. "Grimlock!" James' voice crackles out from the tank's external speakers, a bit more staticy then earlier tonight. "Forget about him - Astrotrain's a sitting duck right now!...and he called you ugly!!" Astrotrain sits up, rubbing at the back of his head after the rough landing. "Ooorgh...what the frag was -that-? Somebody not tighten yer bolts the last time ya walked off the medical table?" He shoots towards the Seacons, no doubt both sore both in body and pride after that tumble. Buuut, nothing really serves to get his anger off of the Seacons than a squishy badmouthing him. "Wait, what? HEY! I HEARD THAT you little bloodbag!" And even as James is trying to set Astrotrain up for a lot of pain, the triplechanger is lunging straight towards him, hands outstretched reminiscent to one Homer Simpson. Okay so maybe he can't choke the human built machine, but he can still throttle it good! Skalor gets shot at, though it's hard to tell if Skalor is not hit, or just none of the shots get through the layer of filth covering him. With a growl he charges at the Exo as it starts to lift into the air, showing all the sharp needle-like teeth lining his jaws as he opens them wide. "Let's see how you're wannabe machine tastes, squishie!" Then makes a leap at the end with his squat but powerful back legs, trying to latch onto the Exo before it gets too high with his powerful jaws and activate the energy vaccuums that compose his 'throat'. Even though Tentakil was trying to keep out of the way while he encouraged his teammate to take out the enemies somehow that pesky Junkion keeps going after him. Tentakil lights up like a blazing torch as Sit-Com blasts him, he runs off in a rather comical manner thanks to being on land and in his sea creature mode, eventually he falls through the hole the Seacons originally came out of hopefully there's enough water down there to put him out. "You again!" Snaptrap's optics burn with recognition. When he came out of the merger, he swung at the first moving Cybertronian he saw, but now that he's had a moment to actually process it, he recognises Grimlock as the one who nearly cost him his mission to the Poseidon Oil Rig. He must rack up a lot of frequent flier miles, that Dinobot. Taking up a more defensive stance, he moves backward, in preparation. "We've achieved our objective." It's time to disengage, but spite, makes him linger just a little bit longer and he hurls that sword at the Dinobot, hoping to hit him right between . . . in the middle of the optic! Exo-Armor Pegasus is nearly bitten, but isn't. It withdraws slightly, drawing back a metallic fist, which it then lets loose at the coelacanth's fishy face. *THUNK* Grimlock leans his head to the side just in time, allowing Snaptrap's sword to sink into his shoulder, and not his head! "Hn." he says, glancing down at the weapon...annoyed. "That kinda hurt." he rumbles- and then, taking a step back himself, he yanks the weapon out of his armor...only to drop it to the ground, freeing his hand up for his double-barreled blaster! "Now me Grimlock think is time for GO HOME." and with that, he thumbs his weapon to full-auto, and whips it up to squeeze off a burst at Snaptrap- then another at Skalor, and another at Astrotrain! James Bailey adjusts the angles of it's lift fans and adds a burst of raw thrust from the engines set on it's rear end. The end effect is that it scoots away from Astrotrain just ahead of the grasping hands. Once it's out of reach (for now), the tank spins around 180 degrees and points its main cannon at Astrotrain. Hoping to capitalize on Grimlock's attack, James lobs a quick barrage of autocannon fire at the large Decepticon. "Get out and stay out! We don't like vermin in our fair city!" Sit-Com says, "Maybe we should let Grimlock wring your stinking necks!" Snaptrap is knocked backwards, into a building across the street from the former site of the Federal Reserve. "He packs quite a wallop." He concedes, and noticing that Tentakil seems to have fallen into the very hole that they emerged from, "That's a good idea Tentakil. Seacons, we've achieved our objective, it's time to go home!" And he jumps in after the Octopus, although he doesn't yell cowabunga or any other exclamation. Astrotrain is knocked flat by Grimlock's laser barrage, crunching onto the ground and sliding along end over end as the shots impact against his side, blasting a few holes in his armor and bringing up some smoking tendrils. "Nnnrgh, I'm gonna knock that fraggin dumb-bot on his aft after th..>WOAH!" As the shots from the tank go flying in his direction, he reacts more by instinct, leaping forward, hitting the ground and going into a tuck and roll with surprising speed that has him moving faster than the turret can track. When he comes to a halt, he transforms, shifting about in place before he slams down on his eight huge steel wheels, the front end of his frame pointed straight towards that tank. With every word that Astrotrain speaks, a puff of steam comes out from his undercarriage. "I'VE.." *PUFF* "...HAD ENOUGH..." *PUFF* "...OF YOU!" *WHOOOOOOOSH* the huge locomotive disappears in a sudden cloud of hot steam all around him. A cloud that suddenly dissipates with a deafening *BOOOM* as he accelerates forward with a rocket booster assisted charge, correcting his course only a slight bit as he hurtles straight at the exo-tank's much smaller frame, that armored ram prow dead center on the human vehicle! Skalor's lunge is met with a fist, and the only thing he gets to eat is knuckle sandwhich! Then gets peppered by laser blasts from the Dinobot as he's falling back to the ground. "Whaagh!" He lands in one of the slicks of grease from his previous spewing, which sends him sliding and spinning across the ground not under his own control, and prehaps giving others a chance to shoot him again before he slips over the edge and falls back into the hole they'd once came from. Jayson Redfield watches as the Seacons start to flee, then whips his armor around in time to see Astrotrain attack James. "HEY! Leave my Colonel alone, you creep!" He speeds toward the train, and, in a risky move, attempts to slash at its understand with the wrist blade. Grimlock gives a proud grunt as the decepticons flee! "Hm." he decides, lowering his blaster. Almost as an afterthought, he looks over to where Astrotrain still menaces the humans. "Think you puny humans can fight just one train?" he asks, gloating just a bit. And rightfully so! He beat up a gestalt! (well, with help) James Bailey adjusts the angle of it's lift units - if 'cranking them as far as they go forward' counts as adjusts. The resulting forward thrust sends it powering backwards in front of the onrushing locomotive. But it's clear that Astrotrain is catching up. Then a sudden change in the speeds of the front fans, left increasing power output while the right cuts to the bare minimum required to remain hovering, sends the tank spinning and pulling out of the line of crushing. Just as Jayson speeds in with a timely harrasing blow. James sends a few pulsed laser bolts in as well, aiming for already-damaged sections of Astrotrain's form. Junk-Cycle transforms and sees to helping chase off any stragglers. Like Astrotrain. "GIT!" he shouts. He opens fire with his pistol. "This town ain't big enough for the two of us!" The blow from Jayson is indeed harassing in that it doesn't seem to phase the huge locomotive that much. Yes, Astrotrain loses much of his famous speed in this form, but he gains a rather significant amount of armor, almost on dinobot levels for that matter. That doesn't mean he's going to just sit still and get shot when he can help it, slamming into reverse as he rumbles backwards, the laser shots impacting either against the ground where he was, or some of his thickest armored sections instead, where they glance off harmlessly. Sit-Com's pistol shot hits his boiler and glances off with a heavy *BWEE!* sound, leaving a blackened smudge where it hit. "WHAT!?" He exclaims as he hears Grimlock, his single headlight swiveling around like an angry eye to focus on the Dinobot leader. "Yer memory circuits ain't workin too good, are they? You lookin for me to reintroduce ya to my ram prow again? I ain't seen you laugh it off yet you overgrown excuse for a liz..." He cuts himself off for a moment, the headlight tilting left, then right, as he suddenly becomes aware of something. "...hey wait a sec. Time out. TIME OUT!" Sure enough, his 'gaze' takes in the streets, noticing a distinct lack of Seacons in the area. "WHAT!? How do ya like that! Those fraggers up and took off on me! Fer cryin out...FINE! We'll settle this another time!" With that, he suddenly roars forward again, spinning slightly as he locks up the wheels on one side, so that he's soon rushing -down- the street and picking up speed rapidly, transforming again in the blink of an eye as he lifts off from the ground and suddenly goes ballistic straight up into the sky. Just like a rocket. Jayson Redfield looks on as Astrotrain retreats now, then sighs and glances around at all the damage. "My poor city... So many people hurt! Dammit!" Sit-Com goes and pats Jayson's exo on the shoulder. "There there. We'll have it all cleaned up and good as new. And sprayed with Febreeze. Pewwweeeey." He makes a big show of wafting the malodorous stench of various Seacons away from his face. James Bailey slows to a halt and turns to 'face' the worst of the damage. Once the adrenaline wears off, James will no doubt feel the bumps and bruises from being tossed around inside of his Exo. But for now he's concentrating on the aftermath of the battle. "Not just the people. This sort of destruction is going to take time to recover from. Even for New York." His emitters seem to be clearing up finally, now that he's no longer overtaxing damaged systems with the demands of heavy combat. Jayson Redfield just looks at his Colonel in silence for a long moment. "Are you injured?" he asks finally.